Motif of the Month August 2013: Starburst Motif Crochet Tutorial

Hey everyone, it's Deja from CrochetEverAfter.com. Today we are doing our newest motif of the month, and this was a viewer request. She called it a starburst motif, so that's what I'm sticking with. I'm going to call it a starburst, and it kind of looks like a star with the holes that are kind of radiating out in a star pattern. I made this one in a three color. Um, pattern, you can also make single or any color you want, but this is Knit Picks Bravo worsted yarn, and it's 100% acrylic, and then I used a 6mm USJ hook, which gives it a nice feel to it, it's not too stiff. So, the pattern is below with the specifics on the colors I used, so you can click on the link and download that. So let's grab all of our stuff and we'll get started right now. My starburst motif started. I'm using the yellow color, or the CA is the color abbreviation in the pattern, and I'm I'm going to put a slip knot on my hook. I'm not doing a magic adjustable loop for the beginning of this round because I want an open hole. You can substitute by doing a magic adjustable loop instead of this chain 4, but we're going to follow the directions. And it says chain four, and then we're going to join that. With a slip stitch to make a round. So I'm going to join in the first chain that I just made. It doesn't really matter what loop you're working into because we're going to cover the entire circle of chains with our round one pattern information. And so now that we have our joined round we're going to start on our round one instructions. Okay, so to get started on our round one, we're going to chain three as the instructions tell us. That's going to count as one of our double crochets. Now we're going to double crochet two more times inside of our ring. And sometimes it can be a little difficult to see where the center of it is, so just grab the sides and give it a pull and it'll open that center hole a little bit more. You're just going to yarn over and then reach through that hole. Then lay over your yarn and catch it by turning your hook and pull up that loop. Then you're going to yarn over and finish your double crochet by working off two loops at a time. So I pull through the first two, then I yarn over and pull through the second two. And you'll see that that center ring has opened up a lot more now, so it's a lot easier to see. So I'm going to do another double crochet in there. And then my pattern begins for the rest of the sides of my square. So I'm going to chain two and that's going to create a corner. And then I'm going to do another three double crochets. Remember this first chain three counted as double crochet for this side. So I'm going to do three more double crochets. And I repeat this pattern three more times. I'm going to chain two and then three double crochets. Actually, two more times now, since this is the first. So here's my chain two for my next corner, I'm going to do another three double crochets. Now I've got my very last double crochet of this side. Then I'm going to need to chain two to make my final corner. So you can see I have Four sets of three double crochets, but I haven't finished my corner, so I need to chain two, and then I'm going to join my round by slip stitching in the top of my chain three. Now, I don't catch just my back loop. Let me show you real quick why I don't, because when I catch just one loop of my chain, it pulls on all my other chains, and it creates this big hole that I don't really like. It probably gets covered as I work, but Just because I like to grab that back loop and the bottom bump of that chain. Just get it tugged to get it back into shape. So I end up grabbing two loops when I do my slip stitch. And when I do that, I don't get that big gaping hole that I had because it doesn't pull on all my other chains. It's more evenly distributed. So now we are going to move on to round two. So for round 2, our instructions tell us we're going to chain 4, and that counts as a double crochet and a chain 1. And what we're going to do is we're going to skip this very next double crochet, because we want to create a little hole in between each of our double crochets as we work. So we're not going to work into this next one. And this chain 3 took the place of this double crochet, so we don't work into this one either. We're going to do a double crochet in the very last double crochet of our group of 3. And then we're already at our corner. So what we're going to do for our repeat is we're going to do 2 double crochets in our corner, and you're going to go all the way around the chain. You're not going to work into any stitches. It's a lot easier to fit all of your stitches by doing that. Then we're going to chain two again to create our new corner. And we're going to double crochet two more times back into that corner. So that is our corner repeat. We're going to do that in every single corner we come to. And then the repeat for the actual double crochet section, the side of our square, is we're going to double crochet in the next one we come to. And you'll see that I pulled my stitches over. And that's because when I make my corner, a lot of times that very last double crochet kind of covers the stitch that I need to work into. So it's a little difficult to get under there. Just pull it aside and that stitch opens up nice. So you're going to do a double crochet in that double crochet. Then we're going to chain one. Just like the beginning here, how we had a chain four, we had a double crochet in the chain one to create that hole. We're chaining one here, and we're going to skip this next double crochet to create our next hole. And then we're going to double crochet in that very last double crochet. So we're going to repeat that pattern. We're going to do our corner stitches now of two double crochet, chain two, two double crochet. And then we're going to do our double crochet, chain one, Double crochet on the side. So we're going to do that pattern all the way around until we get to that very last side and then we'll join up together. I'm doing my last corner now and then I'm going to join. I don't do any more stitches after this corner because I already have my double crochet for that very last stitch that I made with my chain three. So I'm going to join with a slip stitch in the third chain out of the chain four, because I want to join like it's a double crochet, like I'm joining into that double crochet. So just count up three from the bottom, one, two, and three, or you can count two backwards, because remember we have that chain one, whichever is easier for you to see and count. Now I'm going to stop and not finish this slip stitch, because I like to change color when I'm doing my slip stitch. For joining my rounds, it makes kind of a cleaner color join. So I'm going to just drop off my yellow, and I'm going to join in my orange, or my CB. So let me grab my orange real quick. Okay, I've got my orange yarn to join in now. So to do that, I'm just going to lay it over my hook. I usually keep the tail on the bottom side of it. And I'm just going to pull through that stitch and pull through the loop that's on my hook. And I always like to double knot my color changes. If you've seen my other videos, you know that I like to do this. You don't have to, you can just weave in and it will work just fine. I just, it's more my habit, so I'm going to do it again. But I keep my loop on my hook, that way it doesn't pull my stitch out. And then I just knot it nice and tight. And when I weave it in, I don't even see the ends. I don't even see the little knot that I made. Not good at it. Now let me go ahead and cut my yellow, and we'll get started on round three. So round three is kind of a repeat of round two, except we're just adding a couple extra double crochets. So grab the correct end of your yarn, and we're going to chain four. Because we're already at that spot where there is a hole, we're repeating what we did the previous round. We're chaining four to count as a double crochet and a chain one. And we're going to skip this chain one space because we want to keep these holes all the way around. So I'm going to double crochet in my next double crochet. So what you're going to do is just double crochet in every double crochet that you come to. We're going to do three double crochets. And then we're going to make our corner again. The corner is the exact same. We're going to do two double crochets and then a chain two and then two double crochets in there again. Tangle here. And then our side repeat will be that we work into those three that we come to. So remember, just pull that over so you can see that first stitch nice and easy. Don't want to miss that one. Otherwise, you'll have a very lopsided square. And then I'm going to chain one to continue the hole that I have. Because our starburst, it's supposed to be like a star coming out with the holes. And then we're going to do three double crochets into the three of the round below. So we just continue that all the way around, and then we'll work that very last edge over here. I'll show you what to do. So keep going with this round, with this pattern. Okay, I'm on my last corner. And we just have to work the last couple stitches of this final edge before we join. So we already have that very first double crochet in that spot that we joined, so we just need two more right here. So there's going to be one and two, and then we're going to join again in the third chain. So one, two, three. We want to leave that fourth chain as our chain for our hole. And we're going to stick with orange for the next round. And then we'll change at the end of the next round to our red. So let's get started on round four. So just like our two previous rounds, we're going to chain four to get started. It counts as a double crochet and a chain one, so that means we're going to skip this chain one to keep our hole going. And now we're going to double crochet in the next five double crochets that we come to. This is a very easy pattern to start memorizing. Because you do the same exact thing every single round, it's just you're increasing the double crochets between your corners. So you can make this as big or as small as you want. You can make an entire square blanket out of this if you just keep doing round after round after round. Or you can make lots of little ones. You could make them just, you know, three rounds big and connect them all. So now I'm at my corner again. So we're doing our two double crochets. Our chain two and then two double crochets again and then we're going to do five double crochets before we hit our hole that's in the side of our square and just like before we're going to chain one and skip that chain to keep our starburst hole going. Here we are at our chain one. This is a pretty easy pattern to watch tv with. Because you just, once you hit the chain, make a chain, once you hit a double crochet, make a double crochet. So we're going to keep going around, do the same corner pattern again, then we'll meet up over here so we can figure out how many double crochets we need to add at the end of our round. Finishing up this last corner, and then we'll have four more double crochets to do along This last edge. We're going to join up our red color and I'm going to do it again at the slip stitch. You don't have to do that, you can always join with a slip knot. Actually I'll show you how you can also join if you don't like my slip stitch join. So I'm going to join at the top of the chain three and I'm going to fasten off here so you can see what you can do as an alternative. So fasten off your orange or your CB and let me grab my red. So if you want to join without doing it at the slip stitch, you can put a slip knot on your hook and then you're going to join with a slip stitch. So go right to where you slip stitched that previous join and stick your hook through. Just yarn over and pull that through and then pull through the loop that's on your hook and then just tighten that down. So that's another way that you can join. I'm going to join in. You don't really need a double knot. It's just you'll have... kind of two ends that you need to kind of hide so with my join when i knot it kind of hides itself over here and then i just weave it in with this one you're gonna have to kind of weave in the two ends of your slip knots and fasten off totally up to you which one you like better But we're still going to do the same instructions. We're going to chain 4, just like all of our previous rounds. Skip that chain 1 hole. And now we have 7 double crochets we get to go across. So remember, we just double crochet in every double crochet. And then we hit our corner, and we do the same exact thing. 2 double crochets, chain 2, 2 double crochets. And you can see we've got a pretty good star burst pattern going. You can see the holes all the way around. But same kind of thing. Then you're going to do seven double crochets along here with your chain one. So continue around in the same fashion that we have been doing and then we'll meet up back again at that last corner so that we can do the last double crochets on that edge and join up our round and get ready for our very last round. Okay we're at our last corner again, round five. And we just have to do, I believe, 6? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 double crochets till we meet the beginning of our round and then we'll have one more round and we'll be done with our motif. So remember, you can make this any size you want. I am just doing two rounds of each color to give it kind of a cool look. You can change colors every round or not change at all. I'll show you one that has no color change and is... Chains color changes and is in this orange color when I'm done with this one. Benefit to not changing colors, you don't have 50 million ends to weave in, but you don't get as cool look. So we're going to join at the top of the chain three and we're going to begin round six. So just like before, I'm sure you can guess what we're going to do. Chain four, double crochet in chain one. And then we're going to start, we're going to skip that chain and we're going to do double crochets in all our double crochets again. I believe it's nine this time. So we're going to work all the way around one last time. Nine double crochets, hit your corner, two double crochets, chain two, two double crochets again, nine double crochets, and then you'll hit your middle hole where you will chain one and skip the chain of the round below. I'm going to work all the way around back to that last corner that I always like to meet up on. And then I'll kind of go over how to weave in the ends, especially with the color changes because you want to keep your ends in the same color that they're in. So we'll finish this round off and finish up our square. Okay, we're just doing the last couple of double crochets before I join up my square. After I join it up, I'm going to fasten off and show you how to kind of weave in your different colors. So I'm going to join at the third chain again. I'm going to pull that nice and tight and I always do my little chain tight pull for my fasten off. To get a yarn needle with a nice big eye, if you have slippery yarn, plastic needles A good choice if you have the acrylic yarn, you don't really need a plastic needle, you can use a metal needle, and that'll kind of slide through a little easier. This is a really good needle for cotton yarn. So I'm going to just start weaving in in the same color that my tail is, so I always go right next to the stitch or the fasten off to kind of pull it down because it has a tendency I can see to have a little bit of a bump. And then, what I want to do, because I don't want to close up these holes that I just made, I need to go in between my stitches. And if you're only going to have one side showing, try to keep it in the back. If you are going to have both sides showing, if this is going to be a blanket, try to weave in between your stitches, so you have all these loops. Just try to get, see how you can't see my needle from the front, try to get in between Now I am going to go in between the stitches. And run around your holes. Don't go straight across these holes because then you're going to have a big line of yarn where you were sewing. It's best to go back and forth also. Go one direction, then go the other direction, and that will help secure it even more. If you are going to be keeping this for a very long time, weave in a really long tail. So try to get at least six inches. So that way, as you wash it, you'll see that I pull on it in different ways as I'm sewing because I want it to be nice and slack inside the stitches. I don't want it really tight because then when I cut it, it's going to shoot back and stick out. But weave in at least six inches so that when you do have the occasional end peeking out, because you will, you'll be able to cut it and still know that you have lots and lots more of yarn in there that you can still cut off when it starts poking out again. And you can also use like a product like Fray Check to kind of glue that very last end in place. But just keep going back and forth until you're comfortable with how much you have and then pull it up just slightly before you cut it so it'll kind of ricochet back inside your stitch. So I'm going to weave all the rest of these ends in and then we'll take a look at our finished square in just a second. I'm going to finish off weaving in ends. You can see, both sides look pretty good. So this is the Starburst in three colors, and I promised you I would show you a one color example, so this one's worked all in the orange, so it still gets a very nice effect with the holes that you see. So if you were to do just a single color blanket, this would be a good pattern to do if you're I think we're going to do a big square. Otherwise, you can make little squares and then join them up at the seams. You can check out my joining tutorials to see. You can use whip stitch or single crochet join, whatever you might prefer, but this is your motif of the month, and if you have any questions, just leave them below, and thank you for watching.